Doctoral Course in Health Economics and Policy

The health care sector is extremely complex, and this gives rise to a number of regulatory issues. These concern how the health system should be financed, how healthcare providers should be paid, and how performance should be evaluated.
The objective of the course is to give students an introduction to: how health systems are financed; to the regulation of the supply-side of the system, including payment arrangements and performance measurement; to the role of government in influencing demand for healthcare, including encouraging healthy behaviours; the complexities of evaluating policy and performance; and the contribution that health economics can make to the development of health policy.

During the course we shall address questions such as the following:

• Why should governments pursue universal health coverage and how might this be achieved by government financing and provision of healthcare services
• How can governments improve access to health care services, while ensuring affordability of treatment costs and finance service provision for the population?
• What are the issues involved in the design and implementation of regulatory instruments and incentives in order to overcome regulatory problems, notably information asymmetry?
• Why have some governments done better than others in managing the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic?
• What are the determinants of the large geographical variation in medical practices?

For further information on the SSPH+ International Doctoral Courses and Seminars in Health Economics and Policy: https://idep.usi.ch/teaching/phd